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Post by Althea on Jun 21, 2017 14:42:24 GMT -6
Following this topicWhat a day, huh? Go from spoopy space ghost to actual person by possessing your best friend's body and arguing with her friends, blowing up another village, and failing to tenderize the guy who was REALLY to blame for all of this, Valdis or Vandark or Veritas or whatever the hell his name was, it started with a V and was really dumb, much like him, because only dumb people had dumb names. Clearly nothing as great as HER name. Ereshkigal. That just sounded cool. Like the wrath of god mixed with a bit of PMS. ...Actually no that sounded terrible. POINT WAS she could pull together enough of Althea's memories to, uh, remember where to go for the night, the... place you paid to sleep for the night. She'd never actually been to one before but had heard of them before. Right! Hotels. Or something. Inn? Tavern? Ehhh. Didn't matter. Far more importantly, she had a powerful hunger. Not, uh, for souls, that would be weird, but for food. Which was weird, for her, it had been a LONG time since she had er eaten, she hardly even remembered how things tasted, but it she was hungry NOW and she had a perfectly good body to chew on stuff with, so Ereshkigal was... following the smell of food like some kind of overgrown two-legged dog following its nose. Hmm. That wasn't a great simile either. But she WAS hungry, and she WAS excited to finally get a chance to food again. She could taste it now! Wait no, that was just smell, but there was definitely food somewhere around here. Bearing an expectant smile and a general look of eagerness, the white clad dark mage who was NOT Althea went on the warpath, or the uh foodpath anyways.
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Aura
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Post by Aura on Jun 22, 2017 16:29:20 GMT -6
After the previous excitement Aura was in a tough spot, cracked ribs, a destroyed village turned into nether foodstuff and then blasted at his apparent nemesis that announced a blood feud. Good and productive day! His injuries prompted him to head back to town ahead of both Althea, or Not Althea, and Drei so he could be patched up by a healer, and since he and Althea were staying in the same tavern he suspected she would come back eventually, if not for him than her stuff.
Aura needed an opportunity to speak with Althea and Drei, or he wanted it rather, and he still owed her a meal so this could serve both purposes; besides, what better way to recover from hardships than with a good bowl of food. The punch priest managed to convince the owner to let him do some cooking of his own, and thanks to Joe he knew some tasty recipes. As he stirred the pot of gumbo to be he smiled to himself wondering how well the two could handle spice.
As the owner walked past Aura she looked into the pot and sniffed deeply. "Look, as payment for letting you cook in here you WILL teach me how to make that dish. It smells deeeeelightful!" She nodded approvingly before continuing about her business. "So, I am not one to pry, but you said this is for a girl?"
Aura remained unflinching at the question. "No, it is for my party." he corrected softly preparing a bowl for the woman. "Well, I will leave it simmering here until they arrive." Removing an apron he headed back out into the bar area.
"Ooooooweeee! That is GOOD!" the woman called after him. "Go get 'er kiddo!"
Aura rolled his eyes at the antics, it seemed people could not just be friends these days. But why not? It made things so much easier. Holding his side he stepped down a step slowly and deliberately not to jar his wound before making his way to an empty table. He ordered a drink and began to relax as he waited.
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Post by Althea on Jun 22, 2017 18:38:12 GMT -6
Like a dark beast following the scent of bloo-ok no it was really more like an expectant cat that smelled tuna. Point was, Ereshkigal could smell what the rock was cooking, and it was definitely food. Which she was hungry for. So despite having very little guidance or directional sense she still managed to end up in a fairly confusing place where there were definitely humans and definitely food, she just didn't know how to get past one to get the other. The food, obviously. She didn't care about the people. They were kinda just... there. Like background noise. After she found food she would pay more attention.
The er, minor issue was that she didn't actually KNOW any of them, and while she had a general understanding of currency and general monetary systems thanks to Althea she had never actually USED it before. In general or this specific one. Which did bring up some issues. Ereshkigal really, REALLY didn't want to look like a tool by having no idea how much stuff cost.
So when she saw a familiar mop of white hair chillaxing by one of the tables, the priestess beelined over there like a bat out of hell, smiling disarmingly (she hoped) and not looking at all suspicious (she hoped), but rather like a very trustworthy and friendly person who was absolutely not going to pump him for knowledge. The dress had long since faded back to white but there was still a small scar pulsing with crimson light running up her neck and left cheek that betrayed who was in control of the body at the time, but no evidence of any manner of Nether magic. She wasn't a complete idiot. And there wasn't really anything to fight here anyways.
"Heyyyy Aura, how's it going?"
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Aura
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Post by Aura on Jun 22, 2017 19:03:05 GMT -6
Aura was not made to wait long before an all too familiar face came peering into the tavern. Right on cue it would seem, Althea had arrived. So he thought at first, but then he watched her act and move and walk in such an awkward and forced manner. He simply leaned back and observed the wild Not Althea outside her natural habitat.
He found himself looking around at others who did not seem to notice her odd behavior. That was natural enough since she LOOKED normal to all untrained eyes, but this was not the normality of Althea. Aura rubbed his brow with a thumb and forefinger as she completed her maiden voyage across the tavern.
"Heyyyy Aura, how's it going?" Althea spoke in such a stressed manner that all this exaggeration needed to be a perfect satire was a rainbow arced hand wave.
"Pfft!" Aura nearly spat up his drink in laughter, cut short by pain. "Ow, Ow! hurts to laugh!" He nursed his side briefly before returning his focus to Not Althea. It was then he noticed how her neck was taken by a red vein. She could likely pass it off as a tattoo but it was definitely not there before now.
Aura managed to calm himself and smile in return to Althea, with a hand gesture to the seat at his table he spoke up with, "I'm doing good. Been better, but I have also been worse. Are you holding up well?" He gestured to her neck hoping for a full explanation. Shoot, there was that and the entire event that had just transpired that could be weighing someone down, not to mention it was still Not Althea in control so who knows what she would have to say. "I made the food I promised you." If Althea had a split personality... or something... he ought to at least speak with her the same as before.
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Post by Althea on Aug 9, 2017 17:38:19 GMT -6
Okay. So. Admittedly she was not the queen-empress of human knowledge. Even when she was... actually her she hadn't gotten to meet many of them. But Ereshkigal was fairly certain that it wasn't normal to laugh and also... have crippling pain simultaneously. Or was it? She didn't really get why he laughed in the first place. It didn't feel like he was laughing at her, which was good, because then she would have had to pimp slap him. She still didn't quite get what that meant or why the guard had thought it was so funny when she had started using that, or why... daddy dearest... had been so - ok yeah thoughts going in bad directions. A shadow of something flickered around the pale face of the possessed dark mage, gone as quickly as it had come.
He had offered her a seat though - and not even pulled it out for her! That would take some getting used to. But she wasn't really anybody now. And if this was the trade-off for not having people trying to use her as they once had... well, she could get her own chair just fine. Not quite as fancy as she was used to and a bit less comfortable, but uh, a chair was a chair. Least it wasn't covered in... fluids and stuff. Bah. Anyways, Aura didn't seem to be very forthcoming about his condition. She didn't have to be a genius (even if she kinda was, by association, living in Althea's brain and all) to tell that SOMETHING was obviously wrong with him, injuries or exhaustion or something, but he seemed to be trying to sell the 'fine' angle and it didn't really concern her anyways. "Well. That's... good to hear," Ereshkigal offered, her voice slightly questioning - an admission that she wasn't quite sure if everything was alright. She didn't really know Aura and he didn't know her. It was clear that he and Drei had both resented and feared her initially. And while things seemed to be going positively. She was, well, sort of an expert on misreading situations and dying for it. If something happening one time qualified one to be an expert, anyways.
The spirit eyed the... stew...? That Aura had somewhat suspiciously, completely clueless on its content and composition. She was familiar with eating fancy ass foods and making really simple stuff, but... absolutely nothing in between, and certainly not an expert on the subject of human food and what she thought might be some kind of cultural food. She didn't remember him promising her any food though. Which left her in some degree of a quandary. Ereshkigal didn't like to be suspicious, it wasn't how she had been and even after the events that had shaped her since then it still didn't come entirely naturally to her, but the thought that the food might be poisoned did come to mind nonetheless. She didn't really sense any malice from him, though. Or at least nothing along the lines of 'vizier of betrayal.' So rather than making assumptions, Ereshkigal simply took to the heart of the matter, looking back up from the food to him with her head cocked marginally to the side. "You promised me food?"
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Aura
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Post by Aura on Aug 9, 2017 22:34:18 GMT -6
Not so Althea offered up a simple question, "You promised me food?" To which Aura returned a blank but momentary stare. Well, he supposed she ought to have forgotten something that minor? Maybe? Or perhaps this other personality did not remember his promise to her? Well, either matter aside what did it truly matter? Either way here they were with a moment to talk and some food before them, that was the important part.
Aura gently blew onto his spoon before devouring what was upon it, placing the spoon back into the bowl and fixating on Not so Althea. "Yes. Back when you helped save me from that crazy Hildebrand woman I promised to make you a good meal to make up for it." He began to stir his bowl in an almost sort of bashfulness. "And seeing as it never worked out that day I figured that maybe instead I could make you some food now. You, once again, saved me from Hildebrand and even Vadis this time! That is no small feat." He paused briefly, fiddling with his fingers in his lap.
"Well, I hope you like the food, it is a recipe called Gumbo. My master taught me how to make it after he started to train me. Well, he taught it to me so I could make it for him, but it is a really tasty meal!" He spoke the last portion a tad bit faster and louder trying to make the conversation as natural as possible but yet again he fell prey and subjected poor Ereshkigal to his rambling. Catching himself at last he stopped and finished his statement with. "Sorry, I am monopolizing the conversation again..." He had questions for her but how would he bring himself to ask her any of them?
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Post by Althea on Aug 10, 2017 0:25:05 GMT -6
Ereshkigal's eyebrow quirked in confusion as she visibly processed Aura's strange words - trying to make sense of them. Already the events of her awakening to incinerate Vadis were somewhat blurred; she could not tell if she was actually forgetting them or if they had been absorbed into Althea already. Not that her memory had ever been particularly amazing, admittedly, but she didn't remember being THAT forgetful. And she remembered enough stuff from the fight that she was fairly certain she hadn't missed any... major... events like that.
-Which meant that it was likely one of the moments he and Althea had shared together, if she were to follow that train of logi- that damned word again, she was starting to think like Althea. You couldn't break everything down into cold unfeeling logic and rationality, there were, like, emotions and stuff, man! Bah. She didn't even know how he and Althea got along to pretend to be her. Not that she would have done that in the first place. Probably. Maybe? Dammit this was all too complicated. She had thought she was done with all this diplomatic, 'giving a damn what people thought' stuff. Unfortunately, she was a believer in honesty (when convenient for her, anyways) and Ereshkigal didn't really have any... better ideas, so misleading the human priest didn't seem particularly fruitful.
She didn't mean to entirely ignore his gumbo commentary - she'd touch back in on it later - but for the time being the spirit failed to respond to that, instead taking the reigns of the conversation herself. "Aura." Her words were calm but carried more weight than her goofier manner of speaking of a moment before - ironically enough sounding almost like Althea than her usual self. "...I am not Althea. I have but limited access to her memories... vague references at best. I am..." she trailed off for a moment, searching for the right words, "-glad that I was able to aid you, but most of those references are alien to me."
She didn't like talking like that, she really didn't. It was too stuffy and formal. She had never really done that well, at least longer than absolutely necessary. But it was a hard habit to break and familiar enough to slip into when trying to deal with other problems she did not understand very well.
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Aura
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Post by Aura on Aug 10, 2017 11:04:46 GMT -6
Aura's smile never quite left his face as Not Althea spoke, it did however slowly dim into something less. For this Aura began to fixate on the bowl of gumbo and stir it with his spoon. He offered a soft and ironic chuckle. "Well, I guess that makes things a lot easier right? But..." He sighed, "Aw man, now I still owe her a good meal..."
He looked back at the stranger across from him and slowly nodded. "I will do what I can to keep all of my facts straight, and start by properly thanking you for earlier today. Thank you for what you did there in the village. Furthermore though, if I may be so bold, may I ask who you really are if not Althea? I would very much like to call you by your proper name." That was not all he wanted to ask her, what of Althea? She mentioned she would be returned to them but what did that mean? Where would this other.... being go when that happens, how long has this being been tied to Althea? Was it something she made a bargain with just to fight Vadis? The questions were many but it was best to start simple and small. Setting a good rapport was presently far more important than whatever curiosities he possessed.
There was an ever present feeling of danger about this woman now, as though with a mere sneeze or whimsical thought she could remove him from existing; and yet she did not even speak to him with disdain or any sort of superiority, at the moment it was as though they were equals, even if they were far from such a standing. Still, for what it was worth it was nice to see they could speak on equal footing... for now.
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Post by Althea on Aug 11, 2017 5:10:45 GMT -6
Aura seemed - disappointed, maybe, she wasn't absolutely sure. But not coming at her with torches and pitchforks, which was a step up from what she had kind of expected after so long of hearing that humans were braindead barbarians who would destroy the world or at least ruin it.
...Actually maybe those rumors were on to something, given that whole Scouring thing Althea had mentioned in passing.
But whatever the case, for better or for worse, Ereshkigal had always treated everyone the same, and she didn't know enough of humans, or hate them, to where that would overly affect her demeanor. A less flattering way of putting might be that she wasn't smart enough to pretend to be anyone but herself. The possibility of realizing that flew gracefully above her head, like a swan diving into an erupting volcano, and was never heard from again as her mouth started moving before her brain caught up. "I mean, if you gave me food that would still probably count for the deal." No she wasn't just saying that because she was - YES she was saying it because she was hungry, dammit, she might be a duplicitous monster but dammit she wouldn't lie to herself! She had to have some standards after all.
The spirit struggled against the desire to indulge in snarkasm at Aura's failure to remember her name - she HAD yelled it out pretty loud before going ham on captain dickbag - but in fairness she vaguely recalled that the false priest had gotten his crap kicked in along the way so he at least had a pretty good excuse for not remembering it. "...My true identity is that of Ereshkigal," pronouncing the name in a slightly different tongue that bore witness to the fact it was translated, as her features morphed into a friendly half-smile... perhaps a bit of an odd look for Althea, far more open and welcoming than Althea ever was, but born of genuine well meaning. Probably. That or she was just hoping that being nice would get her food.
In truth she had very... complicated feelings about the name. She had never had a problem with it originally, aside from not particularly liking having to write it out in full. But knowing that it had become attached to the profaned tome born of her corpse - even if apparently the tome was (somewhat? entirely?) poorly known in this age, SHE knew the truth, that the power she had wielded in life had been turned to evil in her failure, and that was a burden she would live on with for eternity.
Or until she died. ...Again.
"You might think of me as..." Ereshkigal waved her hand, thinking, staying in motion - not as prone to complete immobility as Althea - "-her guardian angel, perhaps." Not a very good one, apparently, but A for effort, right? Despite the difficulty in trying to explain herself, this was all fascinating to her, having all these new experiences. Ereshkigal found that she quite enjoyed it. This sense of... freedom. She could go to bed right now if she felt like it, or out for a walk, or even look for some bandits or something, and she didn't have to ask anyone permission. That would DEFINITELY end well given her impeccable judgement and critical thinking skills displayed so far. She grinned, almost conspiratorially, as her voice lowered a tad. "You know, I've never actually gotten to sit down and talk to a human before like this. Is it true that it's just your kind on the continent now? No dragons or taguel or harpies?" She could hardly believe it, even if Althea had claimed it to be true, and the light disbelief seeped into her tone. There couldn't be THAT many humans, could there? She had always figured that dragons were stronger than them. Not that she would mourn the dumbass lizards.
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Aura
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Post by Aura on Aug 11, 2017 10:32:06 GMT -6
Aura was quickly smiling with an 'oh stop it you' smile as Not Althea -not so subtly- subtly insinuated she wanted to have some food. "Forgive me, I did not mean to imply that the food was not available to you too. Please eat some as well," he quickly made certain that her bowl was closer and with the desired utensils for the job. "I promised a meal to Althea, but even if it is her body that eats, if it is not her mind then I can not count it as a job being done," he smiled before rubbing his neck.
"So, your name is Ereshkigal?" as he repeated the name for himself he said it even slower and pronounced each syllable. By the gods! What sort of cruel monster gives their child such an absurd name!? How would he possibly remember that? Or at the very least say it in a pinch? 'Oh, LOOK OUT ERESH-' and then she'd be dead! There was no way he could continue to call her that barring she have an issue with a nickname anyhow. He wanted to ask about it now, but he worried that could break the whole conversation, best to wait until a little later.
A guardian angel? He may have awoken after a cult ritual and been taken in by the church right after but Aura was not much for religion, having masqueraded as a priest for long enough to be a true heretic. Simply speaking, he did not believe in guardian angels, that, to him, was a load of hogwash; the statement however, was an apt enough description to make the point clear. Vadis had looked at her like she was some sort of vengeful goddess after all. May his nub continue to ache!
When Ereshkig- screw it! He was not going to mess with that name day in and out if he could prevent it! When the girl asked about other creatures she offhandedly remarked that he was a human in such a way as to insinuate she was not. Might have been something obvious but she was more than a split personality at least. Yup, there were shenanigans here without a doubt. "I don't know how much of me you recall from Althea but..." He looked sidelong in embarrassment. "I suffer from amnesia. So there is a lot of this world I don't remember, and I think, even more I never knew, but I have no idea what a Harpy or a Taguel is." It was true, many memories of certain locales he visited as August, and more prevalent magical theory easily resurfaced but people and creatures seemed eternally out of his grasp. He still did not know who Vadis or any of his worshipers were; even after so many meetings.
"I do however know that dragons are no more since the scouring. There are of course claimed sightings every so often but never anything definitive." He nodded. "So... yes, it is just us humans now, and monsters..." he smiled at the girl, "And you."
"Um... Ereshkigal," That was never going to be easy to say. "Would you mind it much if I called you Erey?"
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Post by Althea on Aug 22, 2017 11:27:43 GMT -6
"Yes!" Moving as fast as light, albeit subtly more gracefully than Althea's usually more practical motions, Ereshkigal had a spoon in hand before time resumed its motion and the bowl had somehow moved a bit closer to her as well. One could argue that the real magic was that she hadn't spilled any, but the true magical majesty of the event was the myriad expressions flitting across her face as she carefully drank down the spoonful of gumbo. As if she couldn't decide whether to be impressed, disgusted, happy, disappointed, excited, angry, or all of the above at once.
Not!Althea licked her lips in the aftermath, looking uncharacteristically serious as she tried to place her reaction. A question not even she knew the answer to. But whether due to her own desires or due to Althea's natural thought processes affecting her own, Ereshkigal began to speak nonetheless. "...You know, I don't think I've ever had anything like that before. We always had plenty of spices, but nothing... spicy?" She struggled to make the words come out right, needless to say the esoteric ethereal was not an expert on gumbo or spicy foods in general but did the best she could. "I think I liked it, but Althea is apparently a wuss with spicy stuff and I'm stuck with her tongue." Sticking her(?) tongue out a bit and grimacing/grinning simultaneously in a little pout, Ereshkigal's expression morphed to a more dedicated grin pretty quickly as she went for another spoonful anyways.
It was interesting that humans in this age knew so little of other races - granted she had been sheltered enough that she wasn't in much position to judge - but Ereshkigal had at least HEARD of the other races, and seen a few dragons and taguel in her time, mostly diplomats. It was still hard to grasp the concept of an entire race being exterminated... but apparently humanity had done so several times now.
"Amnesia, huh...?" She didn't seem to get along THAT well with Aura, but he seemed like a nice enough guy, just not sure what to make of her. Which was cool, 'cuz she didn't know what to make of him either. "Well... it's not like I remember much very well from before I died, either, so... guess we have that in common?" Her voice rose a little as she finished the sentence, a bit of hope seeping into it, she was trying her best to reach out on a personal level even if it was a bit stumbling through the motions. Inwardly, Erershkigal raged against her restraints a bit. She should KNOW how to do this. She knew that she had once been good with people. She just... couldn't remember how.
Erey though?
"-I- don't see what's so hard about my name, though" she responded a tad sharply, the first syllable even chillier than the rest. Maybe it was petty, but it was her damn NAME. It was hard not to take that personally. It... didn't help that her name was the only true representation she had of her identity - her self - the one thing that she had had to cling to for what had apparently been more than a thousand years, possibly far longer, recorded human history pre-Scouring was almost nonexistent so she had no idea how long ago her race had died out. Or been exterminated. "...Eris is... better," she allowed after a silent, salty moment, trying to come to an acceptable compromise. Or perhaps just to convince herself that it was all for the best. "I Probably shouldn't go spreading the full name around, I guess." Ereshkigal did not sound that convinced in her own words.
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Aura
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Post by Aura on Aug 22, 2017 21:06:18 GMT -6
Aura found himself feeling mildly guilty about his suggesting a nickname, Ere- ugh... Ereshkigal did not seem keen on it and in fact seemed dejected and insulted by such a thing. Whether it was because she quickly came around to the idea or was just making an effort to be polite and considerate, he had no idea but Ereshkigal did suggest an alternate name of Eris. "Eris?" He rolled the letters off his tongue as he said it and considered her reactions to things. She continued to make him uncertain of how he should speak with her, he felt like he had offended her repeatedly without meaning to. He did that an awful lot actually, Circe, Althea, and now Ereshkigal, and what for? When he tried to be friendly and personable.
He sighed. "No, I am sorry to have offended you by my question." She had died previously? Well now that was a curious thing. So a spirit long since dead was bound to Althea's body and capable of great power. That is rather quite intense. In a strange way he felt a sort of kindred spirit with the spirit because of this. A small smile creeped onto his face which he quickly masked behind his mug.
"Well, Ereshkigal, I cannot claim to know how things are for you but if that is one of your few ties to your history, far be me to be someone to deny you that one commodity." He took a sip, "If I may be allowed to pry, have you had dreams with glimpses of what may be your past play out before you? And you try to make sense of them?"
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Post by Althea on Aug 23, 2017 3:15:44 GMT -6
Ereshkigal regarded Aura silently for a moment, trying to gauge his response. She couldn't tell if she and Aura kept misreading each other or they were just that naturally incompatible and trying to make up for it. At least it wasn't just her. Considering she was feeling her way through things, that was a pleasant bonus.
"Thank you," she stated simply when Aura agreed to her name, her tone soft and gracious as acknowledgement. The spirit still had a LOT of mixed feelings about the name, but it was all she truly had, aside from Althea at any rate, so it was a sore spot for her nonetheless. Albeit one that she did not want to get too worked up about. Admittedly she was not... exactly... emotionally balanced in her natural form anymore, but being restricted to Althea's far stricter, rigorously controlled mind served to help dampen her own reactions as well, an effect that was definitely taking some time to get used to but seemed remarkably useful so far.
Though it did raise the question of how many of 'her' thoughts were actually her own. Even now, Ereshkigal couldnt' tell how much of her interest in Aura's candid admission of amnesia was her own, whether out of a desire to find a kindred spirit or mere curiosity, and how much was Althea's relentless pursuit of knowledge and need to solve every problem that came her way taking over. It could very well be both, and the spirit was... not sure what to make of it. It wasn't like she was being mind controlled or anything, no reasos not get mad about it, it just felt uncomfortable to realize that your thoughts might not be your own.
But whatever the reason, she WAS WAS interested in it. She had already known about it to some degree but not in much detail. Hurm. "..Yes." Did she WANT to admit this? She didn't know. She did it anyway. "I have spent a great deal of time in the last few months dreaming of fractured fragments of the past. Today's events allowed me to unlock far more, but there is still so much lost... so much of who I was that I am not sure I am even her anymore." Ereshkigal grimaced. That was just depressing sounding. "Sorry. This is all new to me. You mentioned that you and Althea had met before, right? How much do you remember of who you were? Do you want to be them again?" Ereshkigal leaned forward a bit, eager to hear his answer, but not entirely sure why. Was she looking for a specific answer, and if so, which? Was she just curious about a vaguely similar story?
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Aura
Priest
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Post by Aura on Aug 23, 2017 10:19:28 GMT -6
When the questions start coming they do not stop coming now do they? At least they seemed to be over the hurdle of name calling and how much can they trust one another. Ereshkigal was ready to rip the band-aid off and let the wound of knowledge bleed out. There was an ever so subtle tensing in Aura's posture at the questions of his history but he wanted to be honest about it all the same.
"I'll take your questions in order," He chuckled hollowly. "Althea and I met some time back when I was being chased by some inquisition mercenaries. They tried to kidnap me but Althea stepped in and scarred them away, there wasn't even a fight, they just saw her power without a tome and ran." It was a good memory. "That was when I offered to make her food in thanks for her actions but... when we went to market a woman came to me and began to scream about how I was her king and things turned violent. Her name was Hildebrand, the one who died in the village," he clarified. "After she saved me twice in one day we spoke at length about some magical theory and drawing magic from within, without, and beyond. Somantic vs nonsomantic theory, you know... the tedious stuff. She got me realizing I needed to find a way to grow stronger and I helped her pick out a healing staff. I believe its the same one you bare today?"
"Now..." He hesitated only briefly, "As for who I was, I will tell you what I have remembered and... then what I learned from others." He found his head in his hands suddenly, he hated to dwell on these things too much, it was far nicer to just be positive. "Things I have been able to recall, I was once a member of the Etrurian church but I... something happened and I studied forbidden magics." He winced as he tried to press against the mental barriers of his mind, "I did some terrible things, I don't know what but I enjoyed tormenting others and twisting them. It was one of my greatest pleasures." He paused and sipped from his drink. "Its all just blips of nothing significant but... last thing I remember for myself is that I took part in some sort of dark ritual that failed... and I can show you in private but in my back are a number of carved markings."
He let out a soft sigh, "Now, the things others have told me about who I was..." He avoided eye contact for shame. "My actual name is August and Vadis was my best friend. The two of us created a cult that worshiped Hargus, not as a god but as a figure that represented the greater power of the nether and its 'gifts.' I was the figure head, their king if you will. We enacted a system called cullings. it was used to engineer heroes and villains through forced tragedies." He shut his eyes. "I can't even begin to imagine how many we have killed. The bodies in that village were my fault. I set that in motion before." He held back angry tears determined not to look weak. "That final ritual that broke my mind and freed me? I have realized... it was meant to make me like you and Althea. It was a theory then, but your existence proved it could have been and more terrifying Vadis knows it too."
"But, would I want to become August again? No, with every fiber of my being I reject that man. I want to help others and do good. I want to bring that cult crashing down on itself. Everytime I see the carvings in my own back I want to rip the flesh from my body! And every glimpse I get into that history is another sin I will be given retribution for!" His eyes narrowed fixed on the table. "I'm sorry... I did not mean to make it so negative a thing to remember. I feel given your situation you must remember for better or worse."
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Post by Althea on Aug 23, 2017 11:17:18 GMT -6
"Hildebrand..." Ereshkigal mulled over the name. It DID sound familiar. Even with her limited access to Althea's memories, she had been awake enough at the time to lend Althea most of her remaining power in launching the massive bombardment attack and had been vaguely aware of the crazy light mage lady exploding somewhere in the process. That had felt like kind of a ripoff. She wanted to obliterate the cow herself. She had been very... angry at the time. Not that that was anything new.
The spirit raised an eyebrow at Aura's revelations to his dark past. She, uh, hadn't really expected that to be honest. She wasn't sure if the original her would have evaporated him on the spot for being a villain or not, but given her... history since then... she wasn't sure she really had the right to judge anymore. Sure, she hadn't done anything wrong... that she could tell anyways... but at the same time Ereshkigal was to some vague degree of how little control she actually had left. Even with Althea's stabilizing effect she had a dour feeling that it was only a matter of time before the warped version of her that existed now did something in the heat of the moment that she would regret.
The name Vadis rang a bell - it took a moment to recognize it as the man who had hurt Althea so much, who had driven her to take face her own past and borrow Althea's body to reap bloody vengeance in her name. The anger still burned cold, a flickering flame that threatened to resurge in the moment as Ereshkigal's face twisted and rearranged itself back to her best approximation of carefully neutral. She knew, whether from her own abilities or Althea's intellect, that taking out that anger on Aura would be wrong, even if they had once been one and the same. But it would be difficult for her to forget that nonetheless.
In the end, though. She was... not quite who she had been, for better or for worse. And neither was Aura. He seemed to regret what he had done, who he had been. And in her new, uncertain form, not quite sure who or what she actually was now, Ereshkigal could not find it in herself to truly judge him for it. "...I don't know who Hargus is, but there are... far darker things lurking in the depths of the Nether... ancient grudges from the furthest mists of time." She had felt them at the edges of her consciousness. Never sought them out. A part of herself, perhaps the only self preservation instinct she had ever heeded, had warned her that to do so would have changed her beyond recognition, beyond repair. Turned her into something like them. She had always thought herself quite good at resisting the influence of others - her original self quite dedicated to following her own path no matter what - but bereft of will and mind, there was no telling how she could have been warped.
"You would not have survived the attempt, though your body might have." Much as she had almost done to Althea, even actively attempting to preserve the mage's mind and body as well as possible. The human body was simply not meant to contain the seething Nether in such concentrations, nor the overwhelming presence of her kind... or what was left of them, anyways. Still. She couldn't hate Aura despite his tale. She could only remember someone else who had once tried to do something good and lost everything for it. "I see. I apologize for awakening a shadowed past." Ereshkigal sighed, staring at her spoon as if it held the answers she sought. "I have seen that pursuit of power destroy men. It is well that you were given the chance to choose another life for yourself... nothing good can come of that hunger."
Was it hypocritical for her to say that? She didn't really know. Ereshkigal had been born into power. The Nether had been her birthright from her earliest days, and her mastery had only grown as she did. She had never had to... train, really. Not to gain pwoer at any rate. Only to attempt to control it, and even that had been a minor concern given that she had never really had much reason to use her power. If anything it had only ever been a burden as others strove to use her for her power, culminating in her death in one final attempt to abuse her. It had taken Althea for her to realize that people actually COULD desire power and not for evil, what its absence was even like. She still didn't know how to react to that.
She also didn't really have any idea what to say now. Was she supposed to start dumping her backstory in return or only if Aura asked? Ereshkigal was still pretty fuzzy on how humans worked. Althea and Drei were, technically, the first two she had ever been able to speak casually with.
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